Programs

Our charity - Horse Boy Foundation - offers free and subsidized scholarships of New Trails Learning Systems' services (Horse Boy Method, Movement Method, Compassionate Behavioral Approach, Kids Must Move - Home School Support) to autism families in Texas and at our satellite locations in both North America, Europe, and now also in South America and Africa.

The Horse Boy Foundation offers therapy sessions free of charge to families within 150 miles of Austin, TX where we are head quartered but we also have provided support services for families in approximately 20 countries over the past 7 years.

The Foundation's Mission

To end the notion that learning requires suffering

To serve 1,000,000 people worldwide thus creating a seismic shift in education away from coercive models and towards kinetic learning

To create the leaders of tomorrow through effective, inexpensive education for all learning and neuro types.

To end once and for all the notion that children - or indeed any human being - needs to suffer in order to learn. The science simply doesn't support it.

We teach students and professionals alike kinetic learning and intrinsic motivation techniques endorsed by neuro-scientists, whether for autism and special needs or for mainstream education; from the most basic communication to pre-college level math and science.

The Horse Boy Foundation currently serves more than 25,000 families in several countries around the world in equine therapy and kinetic learning in schools, home-school environments, and equine and other therapy centers. This number is rising all the time as we train more and more Practitioners and Mentors across these diverse environments through our training organization - New Trails Learning Systems.

We work with many universities around the world to create our kinetic learning programs, and several university studies have been done into our Methods. We also work with neuro-scientists from such institutions as University of California San Diego, Pierre and Marie Curie Institute Paris and others.

To create our programs we collaborate with educational experts from the University of Osnabrueck in Germany, University of Texas at Austin, University at Bologna and numerous others.

But the main reason why our approaches work so well is because from the get go we have been mentored directly by the population we serve.

For our autism work we have been mentored (and still are) by Dr. Temple Grandin and numerous other adult autists.

For our work with kinetic education in the mainstream we are design all our modules to reflect the intrinsic interests of a child so that they never resist anything we try to teach, and this results in both long term learning and brain building - what the scientific community calls neuro-plasticity.

In terms of mission, it's time for a paradigm shift - a major paradigm shift in how we teach and learn. The old, punitive, learn-by-rote methodology of the 19th century has to go. To build the leaders of tomorrow - and autistic, ADD and other kids with neuro-psychiatric conditions will become and are becoming world leaders alongside neuro-typical youth - we need ways of learning that are not designed to create unquestioning masses to work in factories or to go die on battle fields.

Children from our programs often start their own businesses, and achieve far more than their previous therapists and educators thought possible.

Our approaches - as well as others that also factor in kinetics, intrinsic motivation, correct sensory environments and empathy - are the future.

At the beginning of this section we talked about the 25,000 plus families and children that we serve. It's not enough! Current autism rates are at 1 in 60 and rising. Rates of ADD and ADHD are much much higher, neurotypical children in regular school environments are often so under-served that many schools have become corridors from school to prison. This has to change. Pressure, stress and anxiety, short term learning for tests, terrible sensory environments, and an absolute lack of neuro-science in the training of educators (and even many therapists) has led to a negative vortex for our youth.

If we can reach 1 Million families and children with our Foundation's approaches, we can create a seismic shift in education and therapy both at a school and a family level. We can truly liberate the intelligence of our children, no matter what their learning style or brain type.

Information deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed. Check for pricing and trainings. Terms subject to change.

Horse Boy Method and Movement Method are not intended or offered as a cure for autism. Ameliorative effects may or may not occur. The Methods were found to be very useful with Rupert's son Rowan and with other children. Subsequently numerous university studies have been done and suggest a positive effect and the Methods are endorsed by neuro scientists. There is no guarantee of outcome.

By participating in a Horse Boy Method or Movement Method sessions, playdates, camps or training or applying them at home you accept full personal responsibility for any injury or death that can follow any equine activity. Horse Boy LLC, Horse Boy Foundation and it's staff and officers do not accept any liability.

Just as a reminder… Horse Boy Method Training is an introduction into the methods including but not limited to back-riding. We do NOT suggest that you go home and start back-riding with children. Practice, practice, practice! Seek professional advice from your trainers to deepen your skills as a rider and horseman/woman. Take lessons! Again, after the training you are probably NOT ready to ride with a child. Practice until you, your horses and your property are ready for back-riding! To advertise you are offering Horse Boy or Movement Method you need to complete our evaluation phase. Anybody not listed on this website as Mentor or Practitioner is not authorized to offer the Methods. HORSE BOY LLC, IT’S MEMBERS, OFFICERS, TRAINERS ETC ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY, DEATH OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY YOU BACKRIDING WITH A CHILD OR OTHER PERSON.

We do suggest you and anybody you work with wears protective gear like protective riding helmets etc.